According to the Moshi conference delegates’ list, Comrade Olara Otunu was actually in UFM just as recently as March 1979
02 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in 1980 Uganda elections, Lule and Uganda politics, luwero war after 1980 'theft', Moshi conference 1979, Obote and UPC
Mao & and His Group Are as Fake as the Regime they claim to oppose
13 Jun 2010 8 Comments
in 2010-2011 elections, IPC, Lule and Uganda politics, luwero war after 1980 'theft', Moshi conference 1979, Obote and UPC, Politics, Presidency, Tribalism
Dear friends,
How does DP expect to decampaign IPC but at the same time expect them to cooperate with DP at parliamentary level during the 2011 election? I listened to Mr. Mathias Nsubuga who is the DP’s Secretary General, today on London based Ngoma radio, and he quoted a lot of history, how alliances have historically weakened DP due to loss of members,blah blah. But he clearly missed the gist of the point why opposition parties in developing nations form coalitions: the incumbent always uses the state apparatus to frustrate the opponents and therefore it becomes difficult for an opposition party to win an election on their own.
Mathias Nsubuga rightly quoted the alliance made in 1961 between KY and UPC and what later happened afterwards in 1966, but he forgot to tell people that the alliance had received its initial objective which was to stop Ben Kiwanuka from becoming the Prime minister. Whatever happened afterwards can be attributed to other factors but not the alliance itself. It should also be noted that between 1961 and 1971,DP lost members to UPC despite the fact that they were not part of any alliance at that time. For instance, UPC catched a big fish in 1964 when the then DP Secretary General, who was also the leader of the opposition, Mr. Basil Bataringaya, crossed to UPC.
The alliance made at Moshi in 1979 also achieved its initial objective of removing Iddil Amin Dada from power. The different groups that were fighting Amin on their own could not have achieved this objective. On the military front, FRONASA, Kikosi Malumu and others had to combine efforts to fight dictator Amin. Whatever happened afterwards, like the forced resignation of Professor Yusuf Lule, cannot be attributed to the disadvantages of an alliance. But if we had people that reason like DP-Mao at the time, probably Iddil Amin would have remained a president of Uganda for longer.
After the 1980 elections where UPC openly rigged and denied DP a chance to take over power for the first time since independence, again a mother of all alliances had to be formed to kick out dictator Milton Obote . Before the alliance was formed, DP again lost its members to other parties particularly the ‘third force’ which was formed by former UPC members who wanted to fight Obote but did not want to join DP. For instance, the ‘third force’ recruited DP members such as:Matia Kasajja of Hoima, Bernard Buzaabo, Dr. Bwambale and several others. So the argument that DP only loses members after alliances had been formed does not hold water at all. Secondly, if different parties had not worked together, probably Late Obote Militon woul have died the president of Uganda since he had the support of Julius Nyerere who was controlling Uganda through a remote control from Tanzania.
DP claims that they lost a lot of members after 1986 through an alliance formed with Museveni at the time to form a broad based government but I think this is a fallacy meant to hide the internal weaknesses of the party. Those DP members who decided to remain in NRM other than returning to DP would have done the same if those very privileges they enjoyed while in NRM had been offered to them outside this alliance. For instance, president Museveni has managed to get on board UPC guys like Agrey Awori, without necessarily forming an alliance with UPC itself. He also unsuccessfully tried to recruit UPC’s giant lady, Cecilia Ogwal, during the CA elections when the issues of federo had caught fire in parliament, and he therefore needed UPC to be on his side to block Buganda from getting federo.
Let’s assume that we take DP’s reason to lose their members to other parties because of alliances as a bit weighing, but how does DP explain their hypocritical claims that they would be ready to form an alliance with the IPC if president Museveni does not get the 51% required for some to win all election. Will this not make them lose their members to other parties OR the party will be strong then after just a period of 7 months to the elections?
Finally, I’m still so skeptical about Mr.Mao’s presidential candidature and intentions because this is not the first time he is talking about a Nile Republic. He at one time wanted the north to secede from the south. He is a secessionist like JEEMA’s Hussein Kaynjo and this is not material for a Uganda president. He does not really believe in One Uganda, One people project. Secondly, because Mao has been elected DP president by one faction of DP, he is gonna affect the fortunes of the IPC candidate in the north since some people in the north believe in him. With this, president Museveni does not need to win the north to remain the president of Uganda come 2011 since Mao would do the job for him. If DP-Mao also fields candidates in Buganda in 2011, then the Buganda opposition vote will be divided between the IPC and DP-Mao candidates .It will actually be the same everywhere if Mao goes ahead to think in terms of ‘ONLY DP’ and ‘ONLY MAO’.
With that I can only conclude that by DP-Mao staying away from IPC, they are looking at themselves as bigger than anybody else and I find this arrogant and sickly. The reasons they give for not joining the IPC are as fake as the current regime in power. Therefore, any sane Ugandan who is tired of the Museveni regime should shan them completely. Only IPC candidates should be supported in the 2011 elections by opposition supporters. I hope the donors do the same thing.
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
United Kingdom
EC Chairman 1980, MSM Kikira Was UPC, as Badru Kiggundu(2002-2010) is NRM
22 Mar 2010 1 Comment
in 1980 Uganda elections, 2010-2011 elections, history, IPC, Lule and Uganda politics, Moshi conference 1979, Obote and UPC
Mr Kikira, the Chairman of the EC of the 1980s was a card-bearing member of the UPC. He had nothing to do with UPM. It was not accidental that the UPC-dominated Military Commission chose him to hold that post. He was a known veteran gerrymanderer and rigger, having aided the UPC in the 1963 Ankole District Coouncil election.
Recall that on 12th August 1980 AM Obote made some proposals on how to rig the elections and he specifically recommended that the EC should be chaired by a UPC sympathiser, “our old friend Kikira”.
See for yourself AM Obote’s letter. Look at Proposal one, (c) where Kikira is mentioned.
Documents Submitted by Lance Corporal (Rtd) Patrick Otto(UAH forumist)
The Current chairman of Uganda’s Electoral Commission,Dr.Badru Kiggundu is also a NRM card holder as reported by the Independent newspaper.He has been the Chairman of the Electoral Commission since November 18, 2002. He is in charge of the Northern Region districts. According to Conservative Party (CP) leader and former Rubaga South MP John Ken Lukyamuzi, Kiggundu contested for Member of Parliament for Rubaga South in 1996 on an NRM ticket and lost. According to other reports, Kiggundu was also an LC official while he was Dean Faculty of Technology at Makerere University.
So where does that leave the 2011 elections under the current Electoral Commission? Do we ever learn from history?
Abbey.K.S
Documents at the Moshi Conference before Amin’s downfall
22 Mar 2010 2 Comments
in 1980 Uganda elections, history, luwero war after 1980 'theft', Moshi conference 1979, Obote and UPC
2.
Submitted by :
Lance Corporal (Rtd) Patrick Otto
UAH forumist
How the 1980 elections were rigged
10 Mar 2010 28 Comments
in 1980 Uganda elections, luwero war after 1980 'theft', Moshi conference 1979, Obote and UPC
Like I promised Ugandans, we are going to get a detailed evidence of how the 1980 elections were rigged by UPC .I found this topic very interesting because whatever means UPC used to steal the 1980 elections are the same means NRMO are now using to steal the presidential elections in Uganda. It shows that Ugandan leaders never learn anything from history and that makes us doomed. So how did Obote’s UPC steal the 1980 elections?
Obote while in exile in Tanzania wrote to Paul Muwanga ,who was then a cabinet minister under Binayisa’s government, to do everything possible to get UPC back to power even if it meant staging a coup. The letter is a public document which can be seen by anybody in various textbooks and is dated 06/02/1980. Muwanga ,Rwakasisi and group implemented this plan in July 1980 by getting rid of president Binaisa through a ‘coup d’état’. Before the 1980 elections were held, Muwanga wrote to the UPC tabliqs to start laying grounds for the rigging of the 1980 general elections and they awarded him handsomely. Muwanga’s letter is also public property to those who want it.
Another document written by Obote on 12/08/1980 reveals how Obote personally laid out the master plan as to how UPC would stop the election, or, if it was held, rig it, or seize power by military force if his party lost. This document is also public property if any one fancies it.
The appointment of the Electoral Commission was also strongly part of the process of rigging the 1980 elections. First, the military commission was full of UPC people and there were the ones that appointed the Electoral Commission (EC)- just like the current EC is full of people loyal to NRMO and Museveni. The few voices in the military commission who were anti-Obote like Yoweri Museveni could not change anything. Secondly, the chairman of the electoral Commission appointed by Muwanga and group was a strong UPC cadre called Kosea S.M. Kikira. Furthermore, the EC was both partisan and incompetent. Most of the people appointed did not have any experience in election monitoring apart from the chairman himself.
The military commission (MC) was the one that kept announcing the election programs instead of the EC as required by the constitution. The MC reached to the extent of dismissing the 14 DCs who had been appointed as Registration Returning officers by the EC, because they had refused to be comprised by UPC and Muwanga. Muwanga replaced them with 15 UPC members to pave a way for the rigging within the EC.
In addition, the MC interfered with the voter registration exercise such that a certain man who was acting as the UPM publicity secretary called George Grace Bakulu Mpagi, decided to challenge the irregularities in the courts of law. However, the judge came out with almost a similar ruling as the judges in the Besigye Vs Museveni cases of 2001 and 2006, when he said that everything was unlawful but his hands were tied.
The nomination exercise was also flawed and almost every electoral law was broken by the Muwanga and group for the sake of winning the 1980 elections. For example, polling stations in the 4 Kampala constituencies did not open until mid-day which broke the EC laws but was done with the intention of showing common wealth observers that the situation was the same all over the country where there were few observers.
As if that was not enough, UPC made violence and intimidation part of the rigging process just like we have got the Kakoza Mutale of NRMO. For instance, a rally organised by DP candidate,Mr.Anthony Ocaya was disrupted by the UPC gangs while he was campaigning in Gulu. Muwanga also wrote to the Kayihura of that time-directing him that potential DP candidates particularly: Martin Aliker , Hajji Akbar Nekyon, Yoweri Kyesimira and James Kaigiriza, be banned from speaking at public meetings and rallies.
UPC did a lot of things to rig the 1980 elections but the most embarrassing one was when Paul Muwanga stopped the returning officers from announcing the election results and he directed he alone was to announce the results and declare the elected candidates. He took over full control of the EC when he realised that UPC was losing to DP. Obote refutes this in his memoirs published in the monitor newspaper before his death but that was expected from a fulltime politician like him. Muwanga then released the doctored results after 18 hours to the EC whom he asked to announce them on the radio Uganda.
The question that bothers me from all this is that:’ why would Museveni employ the same tactics used by Obote to rig elections in 2001 and 2006 yet he was part of the MC and witnessed how the country went into decline after the rigging of the 1980 elections?’ Does this make Museveni a better politician than Obote or they are birds of the same feather.
Tulabye nyo banange.
Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
UK
Multipartism and Moshi conference explained
06 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in 1980 Uganda elections, Moshi conference 1979
Dear Ugandans,
1.UPC was the first party to ban political parties in Uganda under Obote 1 in 1968 under the famous Lugogo ceremony.
2. Yes, it is true that UPC were more experienced in politics than any other group in Uganda and that’s why i called them the ‘tigers’ (1960-1980). They wanted to use their ‘tigerish’ status in 1980 elections but a few Ugandans under the leadership of Museveni decided to take the bull by its horns and kicked them out of the ring. Since then, all peaceful Ugandans have been working towards weakening them further and restricting them to ‘Uganda House’.However, it would be credible to franchise one of the chains of restaurants in England called’ Tiger Tiger’ on one of the floors at ‘Uganda House’ for the sake of remembering the UPC of 1960s.
3.Since I’m not a politician, I’m gonna be honest with UPC supporters:when Museveni banned political parties in 1986, he was targeting mainly one group and that was UPC.Trust me, i would have done the same during that time if i was the president of this country. NRM were still ‘young’ in politics and needed to learn on the job to stabilize the country. Guys likeDr. Besigye, Tumwine, Rwomushana, Salim Saleh,…….. and Museveni himself were so young when they took over offices in 1986. Therefore, they needed no disturbances from the experienced groups such as UPC. If UPC was not around or already weak at that time, i can bet you, with all my heart, that Museveni and group would not have banned political parties in Uganda in 1986. Parties were released when everybody was sure that UPC were in a ‘nursing home’ somewhere. Most of their young cadres had left the country after the fall of Obote 2 and gone abroad to start new lives, and several of them are still living abroad. So most Ugandans are not worried about them. They don’t want to come back to Uganda because they have become comfortable abroad with some career jobs or something like that. Even the few Ochienos(like my brother,Joseph Ochieno, in London here) who make trips back home every now and then, don’t wanna leave Europe indefinitely.Ochieno went back to contest for some post in the last UPC delegates conference but he immediately came back to the UK as soon as he realised that there is less hope for him in Uganda
4.There was nothing in Moshi like ‘locking out’ as in like stopping Ugandans to attend the conference. Please, brother Ochieno, stop misleading readers. UPC wanted to cheat in the conference by bringing their majority in exile in TZ to the conference. So they had to be stopped because each group was asked to send in two representatives. However, UPC again went for their plan B of ‘cheating’ by creating bogus groups under different UPC leaders which represented them in the conference.
5.UPC or Obote’s men were ready to dominate the military Commission(MC) and UNLA as the latter was under the direct control of the former.MC comprised mainly of UPC ‘TABLIQS’ such as: Paulo Muwanga(UPC) as the chairman,Col Zedi Maruru(UPC) as its secretary, Tito Okello(UPC), Oyite Ojok(UPC), Colonel Omaria(UPC) and others. ‘Musajja watu’, Museveni, who has now turned into ‘Gusajja wattu’, was only sneaked into the position of Vice chairman of MC at the intervention of Nyerere. Obote was controlling the MC and UNLA using a remote control in his sitting room in TZ.
Byebyo
Nyerere indirectly imposed UPC/Obote on Uganda through Moshi and UNLF
03 Aug 2009 3 Comments
in history, Moshi conference 1979
Dear readers,
Judge Kanyeihamba made some comments in his interview with the Uganda Observer on 02/08/09 that made him sound not as bright as we all thought.
- Uganda was under a military dictatorship under Iddil Amin during the Moshi conference and the government before Amin( Obote 1) was a semi-military government, of which both could have been only removed by either a military man or through military means. So what made Mr. Kanyeihamba and the group to underlook the military Commission during the Moshi Conference and let UPC/Museveni beat them in this game. Museveni knew that to remove a military man, you have to be a military man and that is why he formed FRONASA to prepare himself for both Obote and Amin scenarios in future. Both UPC and Museveni were very culturative in their approach to issues prior to Moshi Conference. Both UPC and Museveni knew and still know each other inside-out.Actually, Museveni feared no other party in his first 15 years of leadership more than UPC because they knew each other every well. They go back a long way.
- Kanyeihamba and his friends drafted the UNLF ‘ baby’ laws as he states in his interview below but how they missed to put a clause that makes it clear that the UNLF government was gonna be governed under the 1967 Republican constitution, i dont know. Prof Lule as Chairman of NEC just used his own initiative to start leading the country using the 1967 constitution but he later met problems as we all know. All the legal experts at Moshi just left this issue just like that for reasons best known to themselves.
- Lule was tricked into dominating his cabinet with UPC after the moshi conference such that prof matia semakula kiwanuka predicted Lule’s downfall in an interveiw on BBC at the end of April,1979 by saying that Lule will not last b’se his administration was one sided. How can any leader of an African country get himself surrounded by ‘tigers’ (UPC) instead of friendly pussy cats, i will never know. Well they say, keep your enemies closer but UPC were more than enemies and anybody with an eye for leadership, needs to watch UPC very carefully. They are very manipulative when it comes to politics. UPC wanted Obote as the president of Uganda after Amin, and both the Moshi conference and UNLF governments were just stepping stones towards that objective. The 1980 elections was a destruction that was ruthlessly dealt with though they later paid a very big price. This is what i have been telling Brother Ochieno and Mr.Matek last week before the former took me into lessons of how to spell his name yet it was an obvious typing error. The fact is that UPC never wanted to promote any democracy in Uganda after the fall of Amin.All they wanted was to be in power at all costs and Ugandans needed to do something.
- I’m happy that judge Kanyeihamba confirmed in his interview the bogus groups i keep telling UPC supporters- that were formed by UPC prior to the Moshi conference. These groups were led by Dr.Luwuliza Kirunda, Otema Alimadi, Akena Pojok, Paulo muwanga( the military uniform man who Museveni is copying these days by putting on military dressing to remind us the importance of the military in politics of Uganda).
Otherwise Kanyeihamba’s 1st interview with the Uganda Observer was very good because it helped us to confirm certain historical facts for those of us who were not in Moshi.
Abbey
Interview:
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4529&Itemid=59
